Dressed in an ill-fitting black Mao suit, a pair of baggy pants and a rainbow wig with a red hat, the 1.8-meter-tall man bends over to shake the hand of a diminutive 4-year-old girl. As his hand touches hers, his hat falls to the ground and the child bursts into giggles. While most magicians revel in applause, Chris Parsons is all about the laughter.

Parsons, who goes by the stage name Mr Magic, has been using magic tricks and clowning around to entertain young and old in China for the past 14 years.

Having held a series of jobs from working at China Radio International and Renmin University, to playing various characters on Chinese TV, Parsons is now working the live show circuit in Beijing.

"From 2008, I've been doing my own bilingual plays to get kids to use English," says Parson. "So it's interactive. I use magic to teach English."

Parsons recently signed a five-year contract to perform magic and puppet shows at the China National Puppet Theater and has another deal to perform plays and skits at the Children's Castle, both in Beijing.

On top of his live shows, Parsons volunteers for a variety of charity work in Beijing and across China.

Terry Hackett, a film and print editor in Beijing, has been involved with Parsons and his charity work for the last eight years. "He was the clown at a charity event at the African Arts Center. I'd seen a few of his shows but I know him mostly from his charity work with children," says Hackett. "He is a pro, and doing all the right things. I've been in the entertainment business for 28 years and I see him doing his job."

Hackett says the biggest part of Parsons' life in China is his work with under-privileged children. He recalls a Christmas when he and Parsons conducted a toy drive in their neighborhood of Chaoyang Gardens and drove the collection to a village outside of Beijing.

"It's about putting something back," says Hackett. "I see him as a clown, but he's a magical clown and he does all that magic stuff."

Originally from Baltimore in Maryland, Parsons came to China in 1997 to work at Renmin University.

He says he jumped at the opportunity because it gave him a chance to study Chinese culture. From Renmin University, he took on various other jobs in China, like working as a presenter on China Radio International to playing the villain on Chinese TV. During this time, Parsons was creating and working on his Mr Magic character.

Having learned how to entertain children from a clown named Apple John in the US, Parsons learned some more magic from a Chinese magician. Putting his entertainment background together with his newfound magic skills, Parsons became Mr Magic.

"I wanted a teaching name. When I go to America to do a show, I'm Uncle Shushu. (shushu is 'uncle' in Chinese)," he says.

"The whole idea is to get them to learn the word when they use it. When I say Mr Magic, I show them magic that is about making people happy."

(China Daily 06/05/2013 page22)